If You Want to Go Fast, Go Alone; If You Want to Go Far, Go Together. In Favor of a Partnership Approach to Directors of Incubators’ Dynamic Managerial Capabilities

Amandine Maus; Sylvie Sammut

doi:10.37725/mgmt.2023.5237

Amandine Maus Centre d’études et de Recherche en Gestion d’Aix-Marseille (Cergam), Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-en-Provence France https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1594-050X
Sylvie Sammut Montpellier Recherche en Management (MRM), Labex Entreprendre, Montpellier Management, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37725/mgmt.2023.5237

Keywords: Dynamic managerial capabilities, Human capital, Social capital, Cognition, Incubator director

Abstract

On the cusp of the 2000s, the incubation industry had started to become competitive after 20 years of stability. The question of adapting incubators to this turbulent environment was now on the table. In this context, the aim of this article is to better understand the role of directors of incubators during the transformation process of their organizations. The concept of dynamic managerial capabilities is used as a means of responding to this gap. The capabilities of the directors of incubators were studied during a longitudinal multiple case study. The main contribution of this research is the partnership relationship built up by these actors to transform their organizations. The foundations of the directors’ dynamic managerial capabilities (cognition, human, and social capital) are then combined with the cognition, human, and social capital of their partners to seize opportunities: new incubation models that had been the subject of resistance to change within incubators.

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Author Biographies

Amandine Maus, Centre d’études et de Recherche en Gestion d’Aix-Marseille (Cergam), Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-en-Provence France

Amandine Maus is an associate professor at the faculty of economics and management at Aix-Marseille University. She heads the master 1 Management of Innovation. She is also a member of the CERGAM laboratory and of the Entrepreneurial Legitimacy Chair of Aix-Marseille University. Her research, which won the 2020 best thesis award in entrepreneurship from the Academy of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, focuses on business incubators, their business model, dynamic capabilities and legitimacy.

Sylvie Sammut, Montpellier Recherche en Management (MRM), Labex Entreprendre, Montpellier Management, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France

Sylvie Sammut is full professor in entrepreneurship and strategy at the University of Montpellier. Author of some one hundred contributions in various media, she leads the AE2I Chair (Support Entrepreneurship Incubation Innovation) and the Entrepreneurial Support Lab research program. She heads the Montpellier Management Institute, University of Montpellier.

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